Astorino Concedes To Latimer In Race For Westchester County Executive
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Voters opted for change in Westchester County, where Democrat George Latimer defeated two-term incumbent Republican Rob Astorino in the race for county executive.
With 81 percent of precincts reporting, Latimer, a state senator, won 57 percent of the vote compared to 43 percent for Astorino, who conceded shortly before midnight Tuesday.
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"Serving the people of Westchester County, where I was born and raised and have spent my entire life now raising my family, has been one of the greatest privileges of my life," Astorino said.
Astorino said he and Latimer had "been friends for quite a long time and served together as well" and said they can now go back to being friends.
"I look forward to working with him and his team to ensuring a very smooth transition in January," he said.
Latimer said President Donald Trump's unpopularity played a role in his success.
"It's pretty clear that Westchester voters are not happy with what they see coming out of Donald Trump's Washington and that's a big factor here," he said.
He said his first order of business will be to ask the state to perform a full audit.
"I've heard stories about cash flow issues. I've heard stories that relate to vendors not being able to be paid on time," Latimer told WCBS 880's Sean Adams Wednesday. "Certainly the state comptroller did a stress audit, which is like the equivalent of an EKG, and I'm looking for a full physical. But the EKG put us at 53 out of 57 counties in terms of fiscal stress."
He also wants to ban the annual gun show from the county center and take a closer look at deals to privatize Rye Playland and the county airport, Adams reported.
Before becoming a state senator, Latimer was chairman of the county board of legislators.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)